Skip to main content

Israeli-Arab lawmaker cooperates with Netanyahu’s Likud

Knesset member Mansour Abbas of the Arab Joint List is willing to cooperate openly with the Likud on matters that are dear to his own constituency.
Mansour Abbas, Israeli Arab member of the United Arab List party, speaks during a campaign rally for the Joint List political alliance ahead of upcoming September parliamentary elections, in the Arab town of Kafr Yasif in northern Israel on August 23, 2019. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

A drama unfolded in the Knesset Oct. 21 after opposition members managed to surprise the coalition and authorize the creation of a committee to investigate the submarine affair that implicates Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin directed to cancel the vote. A joint announcement with his deputy, Mansour Abbas of the Arab Joint List, who conducted the meeting, stated, “After we watched the video from the Knesset plenum, we both decided that it would be right to cancel the results of the vote and to hold it again.”

Only a few days later, Abbas posted on his Facebook page that government secretary Tzachi Braverman personally informed him that the prime minister decided to put the extension of the five-year plan for the Arab population (decision 922) and Bedouin localities (decision 1480) on the agenda for the next government meeting slated for Oct. 25. 

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.